Senator Ali Ndume (PDP, Borno South) has pledged his allegiance to the splinter group of the Peoples’ Democratic Party known as New PDP which recently merged with the All Progressives Congress, APC.
According to him, he took the decision to align with the New PDP following the purported persecution he is passing through in the mainstream PDP.
Ndume, who spoke with newsmen yesterday in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, also stated that his decision was not influenced by his closeness to the state governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, a member of the APC.
He said, “I am being persecuted now because of my political positions or my stand on issues that are political. This is normally the price you have to pay some times”.
“There is problem in the PDP. That is why some of us, particularly the G-7 governors are championing the cause to end that problem. And we that don’t have the support of the PDP governors, and are neither here nor there, the group said we too should come over because we are fighting the same cause. Do you expect me to say no, don’t fight for me?
“My name was printed as number-two on the list of New PDP Senators, and the PDP did not come to me up to this day to say no, stay with us, don’t go that side. And here I have people who have regards for me and wanted me to be on their side; where do you expect me to be? Is it where I am being honoured or where I am being persecuted?” he queried.
The Senator, who is currently standing trial over alleged links to Boko Haram, said security agencies in the country had the capacity to end the insurgency in the North-east but called for proactive measures and adoption of new strategies.
“Boko Haram is a calamity that befell our country but I think our security agencies have the capacity to end the whole thing in a short time.
“I think the problem we are having is that of strategy. The security agencies need to apply new strategy to end the problem,” Ndume advised.
